


With a Flourish (and Blotts)

by littlejeanniebean



Series: Gifts for Friends [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Banter, Crime Fighting, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlejeanniebean/pseuds/littlejeanniebean
Summary: Flirting in the back of a bookshop (while fighting Death Eaters)
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Series: Gifts for Friends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070939
Comments: 15
Kudos: 30
Collections: Potterverse Gift Exchange





	With a Flourish (and Blotts)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [charmingwillow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmingwillow/gifts).



> Happy Holidays, Liz! I hope you like your present 🤗

“Get down!” James cried, tugging the student nearest to him under the display. 

Flashes of green and red sent the books flying, their enchantments going haywire. 

It was supposed to be a normal day, the last day in July. Everyone got their Hogwarts letters in preparation for the coming school year. Most students and their families visited Diagon Alley that very same day. For his part, James had a shiny new Head Boy badge and a five-step plan to woo a certain redhead that did not include getting dead before the next time he saw her. 

A clear, strong voice rang out, “ _ Reducto! _ ” She twirled her wand with a flourish. 

James knew that voice. His head snapped towards it in a strange mix of horror and delight. “ _ Lily? _ ”

The much younger student he’d tugged down was curled into a ball and sobbing now. 

“Get him out of here!” shouted Lily, bracing her wand arm as her shield faltered against the barrage. Her soft red hair was braided down the side of her head, quivering in the wind created by the blasts coming from the street just outside the display window.

James took the student’s hand but took Lily’s also and disapparated. He felt like his body was moving through molasses, which had only ever happened during practice at Hogwarts, within the castle’s wards. They materialized in the alley at the back of the bookstore, where most of the civilians had run to. The student’s mother immediately took him into her arms. 

“Alright, Evans?” asked James.

“What were you thinking?” Lily smacked his arm. “You  _ know _ shield spells are too large to hold in apparition! One of their offensive spells could’ve gotten through! And then we’d be —” 

“I couldn’t leave you all alone out there!” James protested. “But I take it, you’re unharmed then?”

“Yeah.” She exhaled heavily, looking him up and down. “You?” 

“Yeah.” Objectively, he knew she was checking him for injuries. Optimistically, he was glad he’d elected to wear Muggle clothing that showed off his Quidditch-fit figure more than the modest wizarding fashions ever could. “Did you get the books you needed?”

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. “Never thought I’d say this, but school isn’t exactly my top priority right now.”

James grinned. “Well, despite the circumstances, it is good to see you.” 

Lily smiled, her pretty pink lips curling up into her cute cheeks. “It’s good to see you too.”

James’ hand jumped into his wild dark hair. “Really? I mean, thanks...”

Lily fidgeted nervously with the end of her braid, even as her chin jutted out confidently. “Did you… think I wouldn’t be glad to see you?”

“Well…” James chuckled lightly. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s to never assume to know what you’re thinking…”

“That’s… really mature of you, actually.”

“Thanks, I’ve had seventeen years to work on it.”

“You know that they say, practice makes perfect.”

“You think I’m perfect?” James smirked.

Lily blushed. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“What do the Muggles call it?” James continued, wiggling his eyebrows. “A Freudian slip? It reveals your truest, innermost feelings?” 

Lily sniffed delicately. “I suppose you do need more hot air in your hard head otherwise your neck would crumble under the pressure.”

James guffawed. “You’re a riot, Evans. A perfect, brilliant, beautiful riot.”

Lily was saved from having to come up with a response by a blast from the front of the shop. A few clay shingles to come loose and smash onto the alley pavement. Reflexively, she pulled James even closer to her and out of harm’s way.

Some of the people they were with yelped or screamed and the others shushed them. There were children here, they said, the Death Eaters must not find them.

Lily whispered into James’ collar, “Did you feel the wards come down behind us when you apparated?”

“I did.” James grimaced, recalling the way the apparition almost hadn’t gone through. He could’ve splinched himself, or worse and more likely, those he’d brought side-along. “The Aurors can’t come in, none of us can get out.”

“They can come in, given enough time.” Lily pursed her lips in thought. “Any ideas?”

“Uh… Not yet, but in the meantime, I can provide moral support: You look beautiful when you’re deep in thought.”

Lily’s cheeks colored, but she rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah, and so do you, meaning you have no excuse to not give me  _ something _ , you Marauder.”

“Monster Book of Monsters!” James exclaimed almost immediately. “We can sick ‘em on the Death Eaters!” James looked very proud of himself for this idea. 

Lily did not look convinced and supposed it served her right for pressing him. “Yeah, and while we’re at it, let’s get those limited editions of A History of Magic to suck them into the middle of the Goblin Wars.”

“Brilliant!” James beamed and made to reenter the bookstore. 

Lily grabbed his hand with a sigh. “Transfigure the bookshelves into Hippogriffs too. And I’ll charm the cobblestones to sing Celestina Warbeck every time they step on them. If we manage to do all that and not die until the Aurors get here, I’ll buy you a Butterbeer.” 

“It’s a date.” James winked.

Lily felt the butterflies in her stomach do their thing and supposed it served her right for propositioning him like that. “Right, let’s go.”


End file.
